There's Life on Mars!

If you didn’t watch on Thursday, something wonderful happened at 10:00 pm.  ER, once a ratings mainstay for a decade and a half, was trounced in the ratings by freshman debut, Life on Mars.  A delightful changing of the guard, Life on Mars is another import — this one from the BBC, centering around a simple premise:

A present-day car accident mysteriously sends a detective back to the streets of Manhattan, circa 1973.

Although the show could have easily come off gimmicky and empty, it quickly rises above, due in part to the superbly written pilot (by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg) and deft performances by an incredible cast, including Jason O’Mara, Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol, and Lisa Bonet, as well as breezy direction by West Wing veteran Tommy Schlamme.

When Detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car while tracking down a serial killer in 2008, then wakes up in an empty parking lot 35 years earlier — to look up and see the unimaginable — the Twin Towers looming over Manhattan, the audience is left feeling a sense of awe and longing for past innocence…which is half the magic of Life on Mars.  The fun is not only watching Sam’s quest to figure out what the hell happened to him — whether or not this is just one giant figment of his imagination or his new reality — but what he’s able to bring to 1973 with the wisdom he has of the future.

In the pilot episode, Sam has to deal with a mean-ass Lieutenant (miraculously cast Harvey Keitel), whose idea of a search warrant is kicking down a suspect’s door, as well as a precinct of pre-feminist cops who believe women are better seen than heard. Fortunately, as he tries to sort through this madness, he strikes up a newfound friendship with a rookie cop (played by Gretchen Mol), who seems content at the moment, living in world of inequality — particularly cops.

Period pieces in general have a tough time translating on the small screen.  Take last season’s Swingtown – although not without merit, the CBS drama felt watered down and used the backdrop of the ’70s-like wallpaper rather than the fabric of the show.

On Mars, the viewer actually feels as if they’re being transcended, along with the lead character, to 1973. Kudos to producers and production designers to nail the style, mood, and soundtrack of the year specifically, rather than a general stereotype of the entire decade.

Where Life goes is anybody’s guess.  The end of the pilot left Sam with a cryptic message from the beyond from his wife, leaving him a shred of hope for a way back.

With so much mine both in character and theme, here’s hoping Sam’s journey will take him several seasons to achieve, as opposed to weeks, in this creatively starved environment of television.

And just in case you missed it, here’s the first episode in its entirety: